Associations of prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with measures of cognition in 7.5-month-old infants: An exploratory study

Elizabeth A Enright; Stephanie M Eick; Rachel Morello-Frosch; Andréa Aguiar; Megan L Woodbury; Jenna L N Sprowles; Sarah Dee Geiger; Jessica Trowbridge; Aileen Andrade; Sabrina Smith; June-Soo Park; Erin DeMicco; Amy M Padula; Tracey J Woodruff; Susan L Schantz

doi:10.1016/j.ntt.2023.107182

Associations of prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with measures of cognition in 7.5-month-old infants: An exploratory study

Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2023 Jul-Aug:98:107182. doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2023.107182. Epub 2023 May 10.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, MD, USA. Electronic address: eaenright@smcm.edu.
² Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: stephanie.marie.eick@emory.edu.
³ Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁴ Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA; Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
⁵ Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA; College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA; ICF, Durham, NC, USA.
⁷ Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA; Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
⁸ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁹ Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency, Berkeley, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been linked to a wide array of adverse maternal and child health outcomes. However, studies examining PFAS in relation to offspring cognition have been inconclusive.

Objective: We examined whether prenatal exposure to a mixture of PFAS was related to cognition in 7.5-month-old infants.

Methods: Our analytic sample included participants enrolled in the Chemicals in Our Bodies (CIOB) and Illinois Kids Development Study (IKIDS) cohorts (N = 163). Seven PFAS were measured in 2nd trimester maternal serum samples and were detected in >65% of participants. Infant cognition was measured with a visual recognition memory task using an infrared eye tracker when infants were 7.5 months old. This task included familiarization trials where each infant was shown two identical faces and test trials where each infant was shown the familiar face paired with a novel face. In familiarization, we assessed average run duration (time looking at familiarization stimuli before looking away) as a measure of information processing speed, in addition to time to familiarization (time to reach 20 s of looking at stimuli) and shift rate (the number of times infants looked between stimuli), both as measures of attention. In test trials, we assessed novelty preference (proportion of time looking to the novel face) to measure recognition memory. Linear regression was used to estimate associations of individual PFAS with cognitive outcomes, while Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) was used to estimate mixture effects.

Results: In adjusted single-PFAS linear regression models, an interquartile range increase in PFNA, PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFDeA, and PFUdA was associated with an increase in shift rate, reflecting better visual attention. Using BKMR, increasing quartiles of the PFAS mixture was similarly associated with a modest increase in shift rate. There were no significant associations between PFAS exposure and time to reach familiarization (another measure of attention), average run duration (information processing speed), or novelty preference (visual recognition memory).

Conclusion: In our study population, prenatal PFAS exposure was modestly associated with an increase in shift rate and was not strongly associated with any adverse cognitive outcomes in 7.5-month-old infants.

Keywords: Infant cognition; PFAS; Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances; Visual recognition memory.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bayes Theorem
Child
Cognition
Environmental Pollutants*
Female
Fluorocarbons* / toxicity
Humans
Infant
Pregnancy
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects* / chemically induced
Processing Speed

Substances

Fluorocarbons
Environmental Pollutants

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding